Charcoal B and Struggles take between 3 to 3 1/2 hours to get ready to go every morning. They beat us out of camp today. Let that sink in. It takes Charcoal B and Struggles a minimum of 3 hours to get ready. That’s 180 minutes from the time they wake up until they leave camp AND THEY BEAT US OUT OF CAMP. There’s a need here for a serious Bunny alarm. I can’t control this renegade Bunny. I need help! Bear, Sassy, Good Chip Norris, Lassie…Bunny has fallen down a well.
We went to bed last night thinking we were going to be going 11.5 miles. As long as we get around 12, we’re fine. We have no timeline other than meet Pete at noon on Wednesday…slice of pie (I prefer pie over cake). We could hear CB and Struggles get up around 5. CB is similar to Bear was on the AT; an early riser. Struggles, unlike Sassy, never has one time said she’d castrate him if he didn’t let her sleep longer. When we started stirring about, Struggles said they had talked it over and wanted to go for 15 today. This was clearly a CB practical joke. Only it wasn’t.
Charcoal B and Struggles really liked the bakery at Stehekin. They carried out at least 3 cinnamon rolls in their baked good stash. Today, they ate the last one. They cut it into quarters and gave Bunny and I each a piece. This was partly to keep us from fighting over who got the biggest piece, but I also think it might have been a bit of a ploy to keep us in the tent a little while longer so they could make their exit. They knew that we would be licking the Saran Wrap for at least 30 minutes before we’d make it out of the tent.
As stated, CB and Struggles left before us at 8. By that time, Snow Dog and Strider had also passed the camp. We heard Travis and Sam leave at 6. Bunny and I were still in the tent. We managed to get our act together and hit the trail by 9. It took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get ready once the alarm went off, but that did include Bunny taking a one hour nap after I made her coffee. My only option was to nap as well. Like Bear, I’m quite fond of my balls.
Our first climb of the day was less than 600’ in a mile. Since we were fresh, we hardly even noticed that we were climbing. We took some pictures around the top and settled in for an easy 8 miles of downhill the rest of the morning. Just as we started downhill, we heard an Englishman behind us. We could tell he was English when he told us he was from Great Britain. Everyone from Wales, Ireland, or Scotland identify with their respective countries first and see GB as an English overlord. Only the English will acknowledge GB. At any rate, SIMless (he without SIM card for his cell phone) asked us if we had left a bag behind in camp. The same blue bag we had investigated and been quizzed about on multiple occasions. I’m still of the opinion this was someone who grossly overpacked and dumped extra weight on his way to Canada.
We were hoping to catch up with CB and Struggles by lunch. We caught up with them 6 miles in while they were taking a break and getting water. Struggles likes to take her boots and socks off several times a day and soak them in cold water if possible. Charcoal was filtering water when we caught up and Struggles was putting her boots back on. I’m wondering if her feet are ripe enough that they don’t actually need to filter after she has soaked them. I know for certain that after 3-4 days, if Bunny soaks her feet in a trout stream, we are able to pick up fish for miles in either direction. If they kill hearty trout, I’m sure all microbial life is destroyed as well.
It had been raining on and off all morning causing us to stop and change clothing configurations several times. After catching up with the Hawaiians, we just accepted it was going to be rain for the rest of the day. I’ve been carrying a piece of tyvek that I configured as a sun fly for the desert, but due to our early start, we never actually needed protection from the missing sun. Today, we did get to use it as a rain fly which we strung up over a semi-dry log where the four of us could sit comfortably and eat lunch. Snow Dog and Strider were there eating when we arrived. We offered them space, but they chose to hike on when the rain was at its strongest of the day.
We filled up on water just in case we decided to stop short of the 15 mile goal. Bunny and Struggles started that if the sun would come out, they’d be more than willing to stick to the plan and get in 15. They said this when the rain was heaviest knowing they were safe not having to carry out their big words. Nature abhors challenges and slackers. Not 5 minutes later, the clouds started breaking up and the sun broke through. Struggles asked me if I needed to dump my water indicating she was on board with the 15. Bunny told me to hang on to it a bit.
This is how I know Struggles first name should be “Fake.” From the time we got water and the rain ended, we had had a 2600’ climb in front of us that stretched a bit over 5 miles. Struggles and CB told us to go ahead and they would meet us at the campsite we had all agreed upon (assuming we didn’t stop sooner). Two miles into the climb, we came across the first dry camp which was the original site Bunny and I had chosen until Charcoal had told us they wished to join “the mile high 15er” club. Snow Dog and Strider were already here with their erections clearly seen from the trail (tent erections…get your minds out of the gutters). With Bunny’s blessing, I offered them the extra 2 liters of water I had carried up to here. We were fully committed (after seeing the two old guys erections).
We started the final 1500’ of climb. Unlike the AT when you see a 2600’ climb, you try making deals with god to get you to the top without a cardio event, the PCT provides plenty of switchbacks and keeps the grade 600’ or less per mile. We stopped after several switchbacks (“zig-zags” in French) to take a break. (Fake) Struggles and Charcoal B caught up with us while Bunny was investigating a rock she swore looked like a lock-box filled with money (we haven’t given up on all of our retirement planning…we are actively pursuing money at all times). Since they were so close, we took an extra long break so we could all walk together. We were afraid they might have bailed on us and stayed with the other old guy erections off the trail.
This was the only break we took the rest of the way to camp. When we made it to the top, we looked back and saw Struggles and Charcoal taking another break. It was the end of the day, so Bunny was possessed by the thought of “camp.” We arrived at camp around 7. It was already very cold. After setting up the tent, I went to get water. Struggles and Charcoal showed up at 7:30 while I was cooking. We all ate on the tyvek, but Bunny and I quickly retired into the tent because of the cold. To get an idea of how long the day had been for us, it was after dark when we went to bed. We are definitely becoming night owls—it was 8:45.
EFG